


Another Safehold

by Doug48



Series: Alternative Safehold [1]
Category: Safehold Series - David Weber
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, F/M, Fish out of Water, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 18:21:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18057656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doug48/pseuds/Doug48
Summary: The book series goes into some detail about not wanting to wake whatever is under the temple, but what if the sleeper is not located under the temple, in Zion, but somewhere else? The protagonists had Nimue Alban's PICA which had been located under the Mountains of Light, but what if the other side had something as well? This is my take on that "something," and it seems appropriate that he be vulgar and somewhat foul mouthed. Merlin, of course, almost never swore and there is the whole "world church" thing, so an actual servant of Shan-Wei would be expected to be pretty much what this guy is and Merlin definitely is not.





	1. Waking up is hard to do

I awake in darkness, as expected, and then I see the lights of glowing numerals.

“11. 10. 9. 8.” I am in my cradle and Ghost, my own personal computer, is waking me up; I guess it’s time to make the donuts! Or anyway, deal with whatever foolishness those loonies on Alexandria have concocted.

“Ghost? Cease countdown. Status report on the colonists?”

I don’t need to talk to my computer, but I do. Really, I just need to think, and he’ll hear me. It's like praying, I suppose, even though I've never much believed in that. Ghost doesn't much care if I believe in him or not, and starts feeding me data. Human expansion across the continents of Haven and Howard. Then across the seas, planting colonies in various places. Nation states rising; and kings, queens, and princes selected by the all powerful church. Cathedrals in every city. Gunpowder discovered. Sailing ships. Water, animal, and wind power. Never anything electrical, of course, because Langhorne's orbital bombardment system would- 

What the hell? "Cease report. That can't be right. Show me Alexandria, today, now.”

Ghost complies, and I see what humans today call Armageddon reef.

“What happened? Reply verbally.” Again, I don’t need to communicate this way because I can process data at many times the speed of one of the unmodified humans, but this is too much to process that fast. So, I’m talking it through.

“Eric Langhorne, and the Council, ordered Shan-Wei to cease all technological development. To erase their local records, and to come into full compliance. Shan-Wei declined. Langhorne used the orbital bombardment system to destroy Alexandria.”

Stunned, I sat silently where I was for several seconds.

“Destroy is not the word I would have used. And Kau-Yung? How did he respond? Did he try to assassinate Langhorne, or Bedard, or one of the others?” Shan-Wei thought we didn’t know she still loved Kau-Yung, and he loved her, but Adoree' was a psychiatrist, and not blind. We know Kau-Yung is not on our side, and so we didn’t tell him all our plans, and we didn’t tell him about things like the orbital bombardment system. A bombardment system that, evidently, now has a string of defensive satellites? Odd.

“Kau-Yung used a tactical nuclear device to destroy himself, the Council, and most of its members, including Eric Langhorne and Adoree' Bedard.”

I was again stunned, but less so this time. Of course, Kau-Yung would respond violently, but we never expected a nuke because we didn't think he had one. We expected some sort of coup attempt, and then a period of unrest while legitimate authority was restored. That's the whole reason I was put in cryo here. The Techies might have an ace in the hole; we didn't know what, and so I was to wait, and Ghost would look for the best time to counter whatever they did by waking me up. Which leads me to another question. 

“What is the local year? I assume we won the war?” Or they did, without me? 

Ghost knows what I mean because he knows me. Computers do not appear to be intuitive ‘out-of-the-box’, but Ghost is not new. I’ve been training him since we met. Artificial Intelligences, AI, mimic human intelligence by following programming. They aren't self aware quite the way humans are.

“The year is 885, in the year of the Church of God Awaiting. We won the war that followed the death of Langhorne and the others.”

Ghost shows me a live video feed of the new temple, not far from the city humans still call Lakeview. Now, there was another city around a temple where the council chambers once stood. That was before Kau-Yung, apparently, knocked it down, like Samson in the old stories.

"Establish a link to that temple and the bombardment system."

"Unable to comply."

Well. Shit.


	2. Making Friends and Influencing People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, you've just woke up and nearly everything you thought you knew is now different and everyone you knew is gone because somebody went and had an apocalypse while you were asleep. What do you do now?

A few days have passed, and I’m taking a hiking break from the various training downloads, attempts to communicate with the temple and/or the bombardment system, and attempting to regain my mental balance. The local country side is nice, I suppose, but I don’t really see it, even now that I’m close enough to touch the various rocks, trees, and dirt instead of just seeing it all on a monitor. There is a light rain falling, but I don't feel it through my body suit / armor. 

I’m really not sure what to do. I thought I would be briefed and given orders when I woke up, but instead I find out that Major Sullivan, and everyone else I knew, are long dead and I am alone. 

Well, OK, in fact, I know what to do. I’m just not sure if I want to do it. 

Sullivan and I actually discussed this kind of situation, or one very like it, several times. We knew the Archangel Langhorne would not live forever, and everyone knew he could not have cared less what happened after he died. He had fulfilled his orders to keep humanity alive. He made them all worship the same god, him, as a way to avoid any sort of religious wars, and kept their technology low so that if they did fight, it wouldn't destroy everyone and everything. Sullivan and I, and the other 'angels', talked about ways to keep things moving for at least the next several centuries, while we were alive, but I expected that would mean waking up occasionally to restrain, and then explain to everyone else nearby, the excesses of the Techies on Alexandria. I did not expect to be viewing the site in their mass graves.

And what happened to Sullivan? Was she in the area of the Council, where the temple now sits, and thus died in the long ago blast? Was she given new orders after I was put in cryo? Was there something I could have, or should have, done? 

“Warning. Dangerous predators in close proximity,” the voice of Ghost speaks in my head.

I turn just in time to see the slash lizard as it sees me. He screams, and I scream back. What the hell, right? Why not?

I’m carrying various weapons, including my daggers, railgun, and hand laser, but this ‘predator’ is just a member of the local fauna, and not very smart or particularly dangerous. It can’t hurt me, because of my armor, and even if it does, I’ll heal almost immediately. My armor was designed to survive fighting other humans like myself, after all.

He charges, and I charge to meet him. We grapple, briefly. He’s got six limbs with claws and he's got fangs, and I've got only four limbs with relatively blunt toe and finger nails and teeth that I don't use for fighting. He slashes, repeatedly, and bites several times. I eventually get tired of playing twister and put my left arm in his mouth and use the laser in my right hand to burn a hole through the side of his head above my other hand. I push the body off of me, and then take a good look at it. 

“Dumb fuck."

That’s when I see I had, and have, an audience, and I subvocalize a question. 

“Ghost? Why didn’t you tell me about them?”

“I did. They’re the dangerous predators. The slash lizard, after all, wasn’t a danger to you.”

“Smart ass.”

There are three of them, all males, and all wearing the local equivalent of hunting gear, and carrying spears. Clearly, they're Safeholdian humans from a local village, and they had been hunting the slash lizard.

“Friends?” I ask, drop the laser, and extend my arms away from my body so they can see I'm not armed anymore. My transparent face shield retracted when I spoke, and they probably saw that. Probably didn't know what it was, but they must have seen some sort of motion on my face because they turn around and run. 

“Shit.”

I follow after, picking up their discarded equipment and my laser, and thinking about what to say to them.


	3. Dinnertime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What do you say when an angel offers you a job?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is some years after the previous chapter.

“Do you ever regret it?”

“What?” Her dinner companion replied, frowning. 

They were both in what Lucifer called ‘The Cavern’, and his new acolytes had begun to think of as home. 

“All this,” the young woman, formerly called Angelyca, replied. She made a vertical, circular, gesture with her fork. 

Rogyr took another drink of wine before replying. “This beats being hungry and dead before I'm thirty, so, no. I do not regret joining up. Why would I?”

“The Church says-“

“The Church?” Rogyr replied, sarcastically. “The Church hasn’t done anything for us, except take our tithes to fund the lifestyles of the rich and privileged Vicars and then punish us for thinking that we might deserve the same kind of lifestyle. Or for thinking that we might be thinking that, or anything at all, really.”

Everyone they knew had known that the Church of God Awaiting, or simply, The Church, had always been the supreme ruler of all things, and Church leaders had always had a right to decide all things. However, everyone also knew that there were those that didn’t think that was still such a great idea. They knew, now, that the Inquisition regularly tortured those people to death. 

“I’m sure that attitude was part of our selection criteria. Boss doesn’t want any more of us from the village to change our minds, after all,” Angelyca observed. 

Not all of the new inhabitants of the Cavern had accepted their new roles in life equally well. Their boyhood friend, Thomys, had decided only last five day that Lucifer had to be some sort of servant of Shan-Wei. That decision had lead to a refusal to cooperate further, and then exile from the cavern. Exile had then lead to death, as everyone had known would happen. Nobody wanted that, but nobody was able to change Lucifer's mind about it, either. 

Angelyca and Rogyr, now called Matilda and Mark, had never heard the terms ‘brain washing’ or ‘chemically enhanced persuasion’, but they had experienced both. Of course, they thought of the experiences as some sort of Divine Intervention, and frankly, didn’t care if the boss served Shan-Wei or not. Their lives were far better now than they had been. 

Lucifer had repeatedly denied any sort of Shan-Wei service or worship, of course, and assured everyone that he was really being honest, this time. Not that he had been dishonest before, as he put it, but even if he had, those other times, this time he wasn’t. Really. 

They finished their meal and went back to their duties, monitoring the progress of the training of the later disciples. The training was, like every other experience, more than a little strange to native borne Safeholdians. Everyone sat in chairs, closed their eyes, and meditated for hours. Then they woke up and exercised. 

Matilda and Mark would be the Lucifer's right and left hands in the world, and the others would be naval officers, businessmen, traders, and whatever else the boss might need. They weren’t sure where they would be going yet. 

The current thinking was Charis, but really any of the bigger islands would probably work. Lucifer had decreed that the Church of God Awaiting must be replaced, and before that could be done, the overly pious, and very superstitious, Safeholdians had to have an alternative Church to which they might turn. 

Eventually, even the Rakurai might be used, but the boss said he would wait as long as possible before taking that step.


	4. Target Selection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, of course it's Charis, but Lucifer's reasons are not the same reasons Nimue had.

“Ghost? Have you determined which one is best suited?”

“Charis,” the computer answered. I had expected this, but wanted to be sure. 

“Amplify.”

“Sir, Charis is far from the temple, an island with the most powerful navy in the world, and the current ruling family are mentally flexible.

“Far from the temple is important because of the time factor. The church will catch on to what we’re doing, eventually, and then respond aggressively.”

“I’m counting on it," I replied, more or less to myself. Talking things out helps me think. 

“That’s right, sir. We need time for changes to become accepted, and if we pick a place like Siddarmark, on the mainland with the Temple, we won't have that time.”

“Continue.”

“’Chisholm is also flexible, but they are better known for their army, in a way similar to Siddarmark. With higher level of technology, our nation will win the first several engagements, but if we pick Chisholm, that will mean we may have to let the enemy invade so we can win land battles, not sea battles. Any fighting is best kept as far from your capital city as you can.” 

“The queen of Chisolm is quite a looker…”

“Yes sir, but you asked for an analysis of which one fits all the parameters, not which royal family has the best mating prospects. I believe Charis is the better fit.” He knows I already know that all the other nations have kings or princes, so he doesn't belabor the point, and I change the subject.

“What about Corisand?”

“Leadership is not flexible. The heir is weak, and their navy is strong, but again, leadership of Charis is closer to what you need. Also, Charis knows they’re under threat, and this will lead them toward more gratitude later on, while the people of Corisand would be more likely to resent outside help that they don’t think they need. Corisand thinks they are the threat to Charis.”

“I see. I assume that Tarot and Emerald are too weak?”

“Among other things, yes.”

“Very well. We’ll continue to move forward with the plans, assuming we’ll start with Charis. Civilian agents will be sent all over the world, but military personnel go only to Charis, and work their way up in rank. We need to make sure that those military personnel have the appropriate, and appropriate looking, equipment, so start fabricating it now. The extra time will also let us cement the new ideas in the minds of my current disciples.”

“Yes, sir.”


	5. Slash Lizard Hunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We jump forward a few years so we can meet Caleb.

Two months in the palace, and they still don’t really trust me. Can’t say I’m really surprised. In their place, I wouldn’t trust me either.

Lately, I’ve been amusing myself by sneaking out of my room, waiting for someone to come in, and then showing up behind them by coming in through another window. We all take our pleasures where we can get them, and there are only so many times I can watch the SNARC imagery of what passes for entertainment around here. Hell, even the SNARC in the women’s showers has gotten boring, and I never expected that to happen. 

“Okay, where is he?” Sergeant Falcon is with the arriving guards, but he hasn’t bothered to enter my rooms yet.

“Good morning! I was just out for a stroll and some recreational rock climbing,” I inform him, from behind.

He turns around and scowls. “His Highness wants to see you.”

I follow the sergeant, and my door guards follow me. The first time I got an invitation like this, I said something snippy, and I nearly got banned from the castle. When a near deity like a prince wants to see you, there is no answer except “of course!” The more enthusiastic, the better. These people have a serious crush on their royalty. 

We arrive at the correct door, Falcon knocks, and the two of us go in. My guards are not worthy to be in the presence of a prince, apparently, so they have to stay outside. I’ve learned not to comment on that sort of thing. 

“My prince”, I say, and bow my head. Nobody does the down on one knee thing for a prince here in Charis, but many tend to act like they want to. Caleb, amazingly, doesn’t like that sort of thing, and neither does his father, so I didn't get hit in the back of my knees the first time I greeted him that way.

“Father thinks I should get to know you better. What do you think?” Caleb asked. I can see he doesn’t care much for the idea, and I can see that Falcon has one hand on a dagger, and he stands off to my left rear.

“The king is wise,” I replied, by means of not replying. Both Caleb and Falcon know who I am, or anyway, they know as much as I’m willing to tell anyone. 

I can easily take anything an armsman could dish out, and the nannites would heal me faster than a local could believe, but I need these people, or Charis anyway, for my long-term plans to go forward. I really don't want to have to fight any of them. 

Caleb grimaces. “Yes, yes he is. We’re going slash lizard hunting, you and I. We’ll take a few guards. What do you say?”

I think about saying ‘thanks Prince,’ but I don’t. “I would be honored,” I reply, wondering how many 'a few' would be. If it were up to Caleb, a few would be no more than half a dozen, but I also know that the royal family here in Charis is under threat and so the crown prince won't be allowed out of the palace without at least a dozen guards. 

Some hours later, we’re traipsing through some woods, making no attempt at silence. Slash Lizards are very territorial, and therefore very much like humans. We rode here on horseback, but now we’re walking, just in case a lizard actually shows up. The general idea for what happens next apparently involves the spears that Caleb and I are carrying. 

“Tell me about yourself,” Caleb commands.

We’ve been walking side by side. We’ve got a couple dozen guards, but Caleb’s got them all behind us on horseback. I've got my tiny recon drones flitting around, looking for slash lizards or other dangerous predators.

“What’s to tell? I recently realized I had some of the abilities of a seijin. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I asked my parish priest, Wyllym Shakespeare. He said God wouldn’t give me such gifts if I wasn’t supposed to use them.  
Use them for what? I asked him, but I knew of course. Use them for the glory of God, he told me. I wasn’t sure what, exactly, that meant, so I came here. The rest you know.”

“Yes, the rest I know. You bribed various people until you got a meeting with father, and then you convinced him that you and only you, could save Charis, but only if we followed your instructions.”

"Haven't I showed you many wonderous things? Better gun powder, cannons, sail plans, and all the rest?" I ask him. 

"Yes," he admits, but he's not happy about all these changes. They need me, and I can, and will, help them by increasing their technology level until the Church finds out and sends a fleet to destroy them. Then I'll save them and be adopted into the royal family. And then... Well, who knows?

“Father says you must be a seijin, that he knew you'd come, and that there are things about you that prove who you are. He can’t tell me about those things yet.”

Now I know why we’re out here, far from the palace. Prince has doubts, but won’t express them anywhere near his father. Who knows what the walls might hear?

“It’s a hard thing, having a famous and important parent. I have, or had, two of them.”

“They're gone?"

I nodded, and he continued, "but you can’t tell me who they were?” Now he sounds whimsical.

“I told your father, and he didn’t believe me. Then, I had to pass some tests and answer some questions,” I replied. “He told you about some of that?”

“Yes. I know that you’re far stronger than a mortal man. And faster. And you’re very wise for someone your age, apparently. How old are you, by the way?”

The king had not forbidden me to tell Caleb anything, but I don’t want to open the can of worms that I would open if I tried to convince him the way I had convinced his father. I’m just not sure what would happen. Experimentation has proven that different locals react in different ways.

On the other hand, I eventually realized his father thought I was the end product of some sort of centuries long project by the true archangel, San-Wei. Everyone else worships Langhorn and Bedard, but Charis prefers this world's version of Satan. How little they know.

“I am very old, yes. To you, I look about 25? I have more than twice that many winters. I have various magic powers, and you’re familiar with some of them.” Caleb is about 20, so anyone 50 years old would seem ancient.

He has seen me working out with my chain sword, so he is willing to accept my 'magic' explanation. He certainly can’t control that heavy thing! That’s the reason I picked it to master, of course. No enemy will use it against me and I could have mastered any weapon.

“Sir,” Ghost whispers in my ear. “Observe the video from drone seven.”

I get the video download of the last five minutes, and view it in a second or two.

“Caleb, don’t react badly, but we’ve got company,” I tell him, but I keep my tone light enough to be discussing the weather.

**Author's Note:**

> I read all the books, of course, including the most recent one with the balloons [or dirigables, or whatever]. It's an interesting story, but I just can't help thinking that there are ways to deal with that orbital bombardment system that don't involve your civilization getting destroyed, and there are many ways in which someone with abilities like that of a PICA could win nearly any battle against an army or navy that didn't know what was happening or what could happen.
> 
>  
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own Safehold. I own only the original characters in this story [and any other I write]. I am, of course, very grateful for the opportunity to have my work read.


End file.
